Final Orlando Magic Summer League Thoughts

The NBA Summer League being held in Orlando reached its conclusion on Friday with the Oklahoma City Thunder team taking the overall honors.

The Orlando Magic finished 2-3 in the tournament, and although there weren’t many exciting moments, there are definitely some important takeaways for the team.

Defensively, the Magic struggled mightily for most of the tournament. Looking unorganized and confused, the players missed a lot of rotations and went through stretches where they just could not get a stop.

There were far more positive takeaways for Orlando, though, such as first round pick, Victor Oladipo, who was named to the First Team All-Summer League, and averaged 19 points, five assists and three rebounds.

His defensive prowess was just as good as advertised, he was absolutely suffocating on the opposing point guards, and this is something that can add a lot to the team if Oladipo can continue to guard both guard positions effectively.

Oladipo still shot only 37.5 percent from the field, but he also was able to make 33-of-40 free throw attempts, getting to the line 10 times a game. He also did struggle with the point guard position, leading the team in turnovers with just fewer than five per game.

Aside from the impressive performances from Oladipo, Maurice Harkless showed some improvement and aggressiveness getting to the basket offensively.

Doron Lamb also showed improvement, but his Summer League was cut short due to an injury. Andrew Nicholson seemed to put on some muscle, but he was still disappointing on the boards only averaging 2.6 a game.

Second-round pick Romero Osby still has a long way to go in making this roster, but he did show a lot of heart and energy, and with the injury to Glen Davis and Nicholson’s lack of aggression, Osby could carve out a niche for himself on this Magic team.

Christian Tamayo is a contributing writer for RantSports.com. You can follow him on Twitter, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.